By Amy Julia Harris.
It’s a day that Hacienda residents never thought would come. After years of languishing in squalid conditions, the elderly and disabled residents of Richmond, California’s worst public housing complex will finally be moved out.
This week, the federal government approved the estimated $1 million needed to relocate the hundred-or-so residents of Hacienda while a nonprofit developer revitalizes the dilapidated high-rise. Residents, many elderly and disabled, can begin moving out immediately – nearly a year after city officials declared the building uninhabitable and vowed to evacuate them. They have the option of returning once the renovation is complete.
“Officials came together from coast to coast to make this happen,” said newly elected Richmond Mayor Tom Butt. “We knew this was a top priority and we all rolled up our sleeves to make sure the application and funding would be fast-tracked.”
The news comes after The Center for Investigative Reporting last February exposedthat Hacienda’s tenants long had been struggling with mice, mold, roof leaks and crime – with a chronic lack of action by the Richmond Housing Authority, which oversees the federally funded complex.
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